Bengaluru: In the recent days there has been increase in the number of farmer suicides after the government and mill owners failed to clear the dues in the state.
Blaming the Central government for the sugarcane crisis, Karnataka Pranta Raita Sangha president and CPM leader Maruti Manpade said that the present government’s policy on sugar import is the main reason for the ongoing crisis. The policy is favouring mills and it is biased he added.

Slamming central government’s move to raise the import duty on refined sugar to 40 per cent the CPM leader said the government has permitted to import raw sugar at zero per cent duty by taking this decision.

He also criticized state government for its failure to tackle the issue. If the state government had taken necessary steps, many farmers’ lives would have been saved in the past few days. The state government must take concrete measures and clear the dues with sugar farmers, he added.